Pickleball Rules for Beginners

Pickleball looks simple from the sideline, and it mostly is. A handful of rules make it click, and once you know them you can walk onto any court and hold your own. Here is everything a new player needs, explained the way a friend would explain it between games.

The court and net

A pickleball court is 20 feet wide and 44 feet long, the same size as a doubles badminton court. The net sits 36 inches high at the sidelines and dips to 34 inches in the center, so the middle is the lowest point to clear.

The court is split into a few zones. A centerline divides each side into a right and left service box. The area closest to the net, 7 feet deep on both sides, is the non-volley zone, better known as the kitchen. You play most recreational games as doubles, two players per side, though singles uses the same lines.

The underhand serve

You serve underhand, and the ball has to be struck below your waist. Your paddle has to be moving in an upward arc when it makes contact, and the highest point of the paddle head can’t be above your wrist. This keeps serves gentle and gives the returner a fair chance.

Stand behind the baseline and hit the ball diagonally into the opposite service box. It has to clear the kitchen, so a serve that lands in the non-volley zone or on the kitchen line is a fault. You get one serve attempt per turn. There is also a drop serve, where you drop the ball and hit it after the bounce, which many beginners find easier.

The two-bounce rule

After the serve, the ball has to bounce once on each side before anyone can hit it out of the air. The returning team lets the serve bounce, then the serving team lets that return bounce. That is two bounces total, one per side, before volleys are allowed.

This rule exists to stop the serving team from rushing the net and smashing the return. Once those two bounces happen, either team can volley, meaning hit the ball before it bounces. New players forget this constantly, so make it a habit early.

The kitchen (non-volley zone)

You cannot volley while standing in the kitchen. The kitchen is that 7 foot zone next to the net, and the rule says you can’t hit a ball out of the air if any part of your body is touching it or its line. You also can’t be carried into the kitchen by your momentum after a volley.

You are allowed to step into the kitchen anytime, just not to volley. If the ball bounces first, you can go in, hit it, and step back out. The kitchen is what keeps pickleball from turning into a game of net slams, and controlling it is a big part of playing well.

How scoring works

Only the serving team can score a point. If you win the rally on your serve, you get the point and keep serving. If you lose the rally, you don’t lose a point, you just lose the serve.

Games are played to 11 and you have to win by 2, so a game can stretch to 13-11 or higher. In doubles, both players on a team get to serve before the serve passes to the other team, except for the very first service turn of the game. The score is called out as three numbers: your score, their score, and the server number (1 or 2).

Situation	What happens
You win the rally on serve	Score a point, keep serving
You lose the rally on serve	No point, serve passes
Game reaches 11	Keep playing unless you lead by 2

Faults and how to win

A fault ends the rally, and any of these will do it: the ball lands out of bounds, it goes into the net, it bounces twice before you return it, you volley in the kitchen, or you break the two-bounce rule. The team that didn’t fault wins the rally.

To win, be the first team to reach 11 points with at least a 2 point lead. Keep your serves in, respect the two bounces, stay out of the kitchen on volleys, and let your opponents make the mistakes. That patient style wins far more beginner games than power ever will.